Of Pictures, Parties & Performers

On Saturday, I got to do 2 fun things.

No, make that 3 fun things.
Although, if you include sleeping late, that would make 4 fun things.

Fun Thing #2 - Disappearin' Railroad Blues

After sleeping late (fun thing #1), I drove down to the Outer Banks,
but on the way, I met up with my friend RAD to take some pictures.
It was a gray & dreary day.
Again.
We ended up at Bob's Fishing Hole on Rt 168, just north of the NC line.
I had remembered cypress knees all along the edges of the water.
Trouble is, we really couldn't get to a good place to shoot the cypress knees,
but there was a very nice set of train tracks there.
Part of the Chesapeake & Albemarle RR.

I don't think these tracks are used any more.
Or, if they are, it is only rarely, since the rails are rusted.
But it makes me feel more than a little sad and very nostalgic for a different era.
An era before the interstate & the solitary automobile, before the impersonal & efficient jet.
An era where the journey was as much of an adventure as the destination.

Now, here's what I want you to do.
Play the video below, and while the music plays, slowly scroll through the pictures.






















If you want to read about the song and the real "City of New Orleans" train, you can do that too.


Fun Thing #3 - Happy Birthday To Rosie

I left the train tracks and continued my journey south.
My friend Rosie Hawthorne (not her real name) has a birthday this week,
so a party was in order with some friends, relatives & neighbors.

On the way there, I stopped along the beach road to take a peek at the ocean.
Ahhhhh, that's more like it.
This is what an Atlantic winter should look like,




not this, like it was the previous weekend . . .



Poor Rosie even made some of her own party food,
although she would say it wasn't really her party.
Saturday was also the birthday of one of her party guests.
Surprise!

There was music and fun


and even a little groping.
(some of you will get the reference of the sunglasses on the backs of their heads.)


More than once, evidently.


And Rosie with her faaaaavorite gift.
(Sorry, another inside joke.)



Fun Thing #4 - The Muse's First Comedy Club

My brother runs a writing school downtown, The Muse,
which he founded with a friend.
It is linked on the right.
Saturday night they had their first graduates of the comedy writing class
perform their stand-up routines.




It was very enjoyable.
The school regularly holds readings for their students in all genres.
If you are in the area, check it out sometime.

I was beat.
Really, how much more fun could I have squeezed onto one day?

Man Buildeth, The Lord Sayeth "Ya Think?" EDITED

Today, I ventured down to my friend Rosie & Mr. Hawthorne's house for a quick visit. BTW, it is exactly 82.3 miles & 1 hour 29 minutes from my driveway to hers. After a really good lunch, which Rosie describes better than me here, we ventured out. Our target was South Nags Head, which bore some of the worst of the damage from the November Nor'easter. Some video during the storm is here, and here.

Why was the damage so great? Remember the old song you learned in Sunday School about the foolish man who built his house upon the sand? Yeah, there's a reason the dunes are there. See that row of 9 or so houses right along the surf?

Now, I don't know if the surf was right there when they were built. I would hope not. What city with any integrity or sense would issue building permits for such a thing? What builder with any integrity would build them there? The buyers were either arrogant, or stupid, or gamblers. It's really, really hard to have sympathy for such a colossal failure at so many levels, even though I know that some of the owners put all their life savings into those houses, and now it's all gone. I try, but I can't squeeze out any tears. I just want to smack them all and say "What were you thinking?!"

I only hope no one is foolish enough to try that again. But, alas, we can't seem to learn from history. This seems to happen every time there is a big storm on the OBX. Same thing happened with Isabel. She even opened up a new inlet on Hatteras Island.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:46_9_21_03_14.jpg

Anyway, the lesson here? DON'T DO THIS!

See the dune on the right side of this picture? Houses are supposed to go BEHIND it. That would be to the left of the picture. Look where the house is:

Okay numbskull, what happens to your house when you put it in front of the dune so nothing would block your view of the ocean (I could be wrong about that):

It was fricking cold. The temp was 33 and the wind was blowing fiercely. We ended up chewing on sand and freezing to the point of pain. The wind chill had to be in the upper teens or lower 20's. We were woefully underdressed. Oops.

As for the rest of these, I don't really need to say much. There are a lot of pictures. It was jaw-dropping, stunning, sickening, and senseless.

The pilings were sunk deep into the sand. They, uh, hold the house up. Starting at the left, look at the 2nd & 5th pilings. They were swinging free. There was a good 6 inches of air under each. Look at the 1st, 3rd, and 4th. They have been reinforced. Makes you realize this has happened before.

The sand bags didn't work.

This next group of houses are the ones in the Google Earth image at the beginning of this post. The road was completely destroyed. All the septic tanks were uncovered, looking like ghastly coffins. Ewww, but the smell was long gone.

Look at the name of this house.

Yeah, either the house is escaping into the ocean, or it was a warning for the residents that that's what they'd better do.

Should insurance pay for all this? I say NO. Building on the beach is a gamble. Sometimes you lose. The rest of us shouldn't have to pay for it.

The deceased comic Sam Kinison once hollered "it's like people who built their houses on the side of a volcano, then complain when there's lava in the living room."

Mr. Hawthorne is a realtor on the Outer Banks. My friend Russ is in the mortgage lending business on the Outer Banks. They may have another perspective on this that would make me less disgusted, but I don't think so.

Next, more from my visit.

Edited on 1-13-10: A comment on this post prompted some research on my part. You can see it all if you click on the "Comments" link.